Assessing woody species compostion and community perception on hunase protected natura forest, gibe woreda, hadiya zone, sothern Ethiopia

Abstract

The study aimed at identifying and documenting woody species composition on the sites far from the settlement and near to the settlement. . Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews, field observation and group discussion. The number of plants from an area of 20m ×20m (400 m2) from each of the 18 systematically selected plots along transects were counted in both sites. A total of 72 informants between the ages of 19and 80 provided their perception on the woody species. Shannon, alpha and beta diversity indices were used to determine woody species diversity. The results of comparative assessment of woody plants showed that the plant density and species diversity in area where far from settlement were significantly higher by 196 density and species diversity was 134.5% than in adjacent area, near to the settlement. The apparent higher diversity was confirmed by higher Shannon diversity index of 2.89 in the site where far from the settlement than index of 2.21 in the site where near to the settlement. Furthermore, community developed positive attitude to protecting forest because of multiple benefits they are getting from forest. It is concluded that protecting forest significantly improved soil fertility; and species diversity and plant density relative to adjacent exposed site. Thus, forest protecting is easy to practice and cost effective means of rehabilitating degraded biodiversity, it should be promoted further in areas of Ethiopia where the problem of forest degradation occurs.